Why I Took To Cannes' Red Carpet To Call Out Sexual Violence

The 77th Cannes film festival reached its climax on Saturday when all eyes were on the Croisette, as the winners of the prestigious Palme d'Or were announced.

- Rokhaya Diallo

This year, I found myself walking on the red carpet, hand in hand with some of the most courageous women in the business. Behind the facade of movie-star glamour and fashionable edge, there are burning issues that have been agitating the grande famille du cinéma in France for years. The Cannes festival, as a symbol of the French film establishment, can no longer shy away from them.

Actor-director Judith Godrèche has emerged as one of the most outspoken voices of the French #MeToo movement. She invited me to walk alongside her and the crew of her new short film Moi Aussi (Me Too), which she was presenting to the Cannes audience.

When Judith was 14, the entire French film world knew her, not only as a promising young acting talent but also as the partner of the acclaimed, and then middle-aged, arthouse film-maker Benoît Jacquot. Nobody seemed to think it in any way strange or sordid. An "omertà" prevailed in the industry.